//------------------------------// // Take The Stage // Story: The Light Beyond Despair // by Ultimate Mayhem //------------------------------// The group had made it back to Sunset's place and were currently sitting around waiting for Sunset while she got something. In the meantime most of them were working on their assignments while Sugarcoat looked at the two Eyecons she'd gained. "Alright. I hope you like sweets." said Sunset returning from the kitchen with a large plate. The group turned to her as she placed the plate, allowing them to see a cake decorated with frosting and strawberries with a bunny drawn in the middle. The group looked at the cake with wide eyes and then at Sunset. "What?" she asked. "Since when do you make pastries?" asked Octavia. "Oh. That." Sunset then pulled out new module that had an image which resembled the Bunny Cake she'd made. "They sent me a new module. It's Cure Whip's module." "Whip as in Whipped Cream?" asked Sunny. "Yep." "So what does that have to do with anything?" asked Sour Sweet. "When I get a new Module I have to bond with it by using it in my Seiko Driver and when I do I temperarily take on the personality of the Cure who's data was in it and gain skills they had." "So what else can you do?" asked Lemon. "I learned an unknown form of martial arts, learned to play violin, and a few forms of dances. From what I know Beat's and Sword's modules would've taught me how to sing and play guitar but those are things I already knew how to do though I do know a few songs in a different language." explained Sunset. "So you know how to make cakes now?" Vinyl asked. Sunset nodded as she placed the plate on the table before going back to the kitchen and then returning with nine plates, nine forks, and a knife. "I believe Sugarcoat has something to say to you Sunset." said Sunny. Sunset looked at Sunny and then at Sugarcoat who looked at her with her eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. In school I lost my temper and I wound up telling those five about what they drove you to do." explained Sugarcoat. "Oh. You did? It's fine." said Sunset. Sugarcoat look at her surprised. "To be honest I never intended to talk to them since being close to them drives me a little closer to hurting them....or worse. So I guess I should probably thank you." she exlained scratching her cheek. This left them speechless. "Since that's out of the way let's eat the cake." she said handing each of them a plate and a fork. Once all of them had their own slices they all tasted the cake and were surprised at how good it tasted. "I think you might have the talent to become a pâtissier." said Sunny. "You're giving me too much credit." said Sunset. "So what's the deal with those Eyecon things?" asked Lemon Zest. "They're like my modules only instead of them having data they contain the souls of dead people. At least that's what the files say." "So who was Grimm?" asked Sugarcoat. "As I recall Grimm wasn't a person. It was the Brothers Grimm." said Sunset. "The info I saw said they were responsible for the wide spread of many fairytales." "Weird." said Indigo. "Hey Sunset." She turned to Vinyl. "So are you gonna come back to school?" It was then Sunset turned away. "I can't. As it is last week I barely kept myself in check enough to avoid hurting them. If I were to remain close to them I'd be putting everyone in danger." "Oh. I almost forgot something." said Sunny standing up. She placed a hand on Sunset's shoulder causing her to turn. "Principal Celestia wanted us to tell you that if you need someone to talk to you can talk to either her or Vice Principal Luna." Sunset smiled. "I guess she still likes to think of me as a possible daughter." she said. "I probably should call one of these days." "Why not now?" asked Octavia. "Because there are still some issues I need to resolve." Vinyl looked at Sunset and then looked into her backpack where she looked at a lock. "There's something I've been curious about." said Sunset causing the others to look at her. "What exactly caused you six to transfer?" she asked. "So you knew we were new?" "I've always had a pretty good eye and a good memory." replied Sunset. "I think each of us had a different reason for wanting to transfer." said Sunny. "For me...my aunt is Principal Cinch so she's always held me to a very high standard. That's actually why I have my own place." "Really?" asked Sunset surprised. "My parents are usually traveling for work so I see them two or three times a year at most." replied Sunny. "So up until middle school I lived with her. It was always do your homework and make sure you ask for extra credit even if you don't need it. It was so much pressure so when I turned fourteen I sent my parents messages telling them I wanted my own place because I felt I was ready to take care of myself." "So you lied?" asked Octavia with an eyebrow raised. "I suppose it's a matter of how you see it." replied Sunny. "I wasn't lying when I told them I could take care of myself but that wasn't the reason I wanted to live on my own. I just wanted to get away from my aunt." "So what happened when she found out you were transfering?" asked Lemon. "She called me, yelled at me about throwing away my future for....about forty five minutes, give or take a few, while I made myself dinner," It was then she noticed the others staring at her. "What?" "She yelled at you for forty five minutes?" asked Indigo. "It happened all the time when I was a child so eventually it just became white noise to me." replied Sunny. "Then your reason for transfering..." began Sunset. "Was really just to enjoy school." replied Sunny. "Even when I was in elementary I was held up to Crystal Prep's standard so going to a school that doesn't make you feel worthless if you aren't the best feels liberating. Honestly, just the last two days I've felt so free for the first time in my life." she said stretching with a smile. "How about you?" Vinyl asked Lemon Zest. "There's not much to tell with me. I just wanted to go to a school where everyone doesn't have a stick up their ass." replied Lemon causing the other ex Shadowbolts to look at her surprised. "What?" "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you curse." said Sour Sweet. "Well yeah. At Crystal Prep they had hi-def cameras everywhere so you could get detention if any of them caught you ." replied Lemon Zest. "I'm not a bitch or anything. I just found it helped keep me calm, which wasn't exactly easy at Crystal Prep." The other five agreed. "So is it true the reason you didn't go to the Winter Storm freshman year was that you were punished?" asked Indigo. "You mean a blizzard?" asked Vinyl. "Someone at school figured Winter Storm was a better name for a dance for some reason." replied Indigo before turning to Lemon. "So is it true?" "Yeah." replied Lemon. "One of my cousins was working on something and I sorta stepped on a board that had a nail sticking out of it." Hearing this caused the others to wince. "So yeah. I let out a loud one and I wasn't allowed to go to the dance." "Wow." said Vinyl. "Somehow that's not really surprising." said Sour Sweet. "So what about you?" Sunset asked her. "The same as Lemon," replied Sour with a smile. "I'm just glad to be out of a school full of assholes." she added. Sunset, Vinyl, and Octavia looked at her surprised. "I have DID." "DID?" asked Vinyl and Octavia. "Dissociative Identity Disorder." said Sunset. "Hard to hide so freshman year someone found out and a few others started making fun of me." explained Sour. "And that was when she kicked ass!" cheered Lemon. "That's not something to be cheering about." said Sugarcoat. "What happened?" asked Octavia. "A few Juniors started making fun of me. At first it wasn't anything too bad. Just name calling and such. Then they decided to try 'teach' me a lesson. I went...a little off the rails and put them in hospital. I don't actually remember what happened but after everyone stayed away from me. Most of the school still thought of me as some insane psycho." "I don't think it was that bad." said Sunny trying to make her feel better. "So that's why you wanted to transfer?" asked Sunset. Sour nodded. "CHS seemed a lot more accepting than Crystal Prep about...well, anything really." "To an extent." added Sunset causing Vinyl and Octavia to wince. "Personally I just wanted freedom." said Indigo causing the others to turn to her. "What do you mean?" asked a confused Lemon Zest. "Sports are great but that not the only thing I'm good at." replied Indigo. "But at this point Crystal Prep only accepted me as a jock so when I tried to go into any of the other clubs they wouldn't let me apply. 'Just stick to what you're good at' was all they'd say to me." "I remember back when you tried to join the Drama club." said Sunny. "Exactly!" said Indigo. "Sports have always been a great way to stay in shape but it's not all I'm about. I like singing and acting too." "Then will you be joining the Drama club?" asked Octavia. "I might. This whole thing feel way more important. I mean we're fighting to save the world." "You don't have to." said Sunset. "It's not my style to leave a friend. Loyalty's part of why we stuck together back at Crystal Prep after all." said Indigo. The others nodded. "So how about you Twilight?" asked Sunset startling her. "Um...honestly, it was because it was hard being at Crystal Prep. The demanding teachers I could handle since I spent most of my time reading and studying but everyone is competitive about their grades so most of the time school was terrifying for me. I would sometimes come out of my lab for lunch and it was usually impossible to find somewhere to sit so occasionally I'd sit with them but I always felt out of place." "I thought you were just shy." said Lemon. "That as well." replied Twilight. "It was also because for a few months I had noticed odd seismic activity and energy readings coming from CHS but when I was there I didn't detect anything. Though what you've explained does put some pieces into place." "What do you mean?" asked Sunset. "When we first arrived everyone was greeting me like they knew me and when I met those five girls they started apologizing to me." "How about you?" Sunset asked Sugarcoat. "Nothing to tell." replied Sugarcoat. "As great a school as it is most of the students like to try to sabotage each other if given the chance. I dislike underhanded tactics." "You certaintly seem...direct." said Octavia. "I've never been one to beat around the bush." said Sugarcoat finishing her slice of cake which seemed to have been forgotten in the conversation by most of the others with only Octavia, Lemon, and Sunny having also finished their slices. "Hey so what do the bad guys you fight call themselves?" asked Indigo. "The Hiretsuna." replied Sunset. "I did research for a few days before coming here but of all the evils we've been fighting this seems to only just be surfacing so the available data was limited. All I know right now is that they do seem to have access to other tools such as Eyecons, Lockseeds, and other artifacts that would allow them to create monsters." "That explains why the monster you fought last week was so different from the Ganma you and Sugarcoat fought." said Twilight. "Yeah but we'll have to be ready for anything. For all we know one or more of their big gun could be in the city hiding in plain sight." said Sunset. "For now we should be wary of anyone outside this group of ours." "So we should be suspicious of everyone around us?" asked Indigo. "Just be cautious and try not to act like you think everyone might try to kill you or something." explained Sunset. "I put in request for modified communication equipment." "Can't we just use our phones?" asked Lemon. "It'd be a bad idea to use them for this kind of thing. Our phones could be remotely hacked or even infected with spyware." explained Twilight sounding professional. "And it wouldn't help that most of you are on multiple social media platforms for things such as Vinyl's DJ reputation and such." added Sugarcoat. "So what do we do in the meantime?" Sunny asked. "If something happens and neither of us is close text the word Marquis with the location." said Sunset. "How do we get into contact with you?" asked Lemon. "Don't worry. There's a security system here that's linked into every security system in the city so if there's an attack somewhere I'll know." explained Sunset. "Once the communication equipment gets here I can link you to the system." "We should probably get going. It's getting kinda late." said Sour Sweet. "My parents worry I might go off the deep end if I'm not back before dark." "I'll go with ya. I gotta head back too anyway." said Vinyl. Octavia looked at Vinyl knowing something was probably up but said nothing. "Alright." shrugged Sour Sweet. "We probably all need to get home." said Twilight. "You guys go ahead. I'm gonna stay for a bit longer." said Sunny. "Well then have a good night." said Indigo as they left. "You wanted to ask me something?" asked Sunset. Once the others were gone Sunny looked at Sunset seriously. "I'd like to know how to become a Rider." replied Sunny. "I see." "How do I become one?" "That's not really something anyone controls. From what I do know most people chosen aren't chosen for any specific reason. Some have mentioned they had a dream where they talked to someone so I guess just keep track if you have that kind of dream." "What about you?" asked Sunset. "When I was taken to the base the Seikō Driver reacted to me. They said that since it was materialized they hadn't been able to get any type of reaction from it." explained Sunset. "So what else did you want to know?" Sunny sighed. Sour Sweet and Vinyl arrived at Sour's home and they went to her room. "So what did you want to ask me about?" asked Sour. "I guess I'm just kinda worried and since we don't know each other that well I figured you might be able to give me some blunt advice." "You could've asked Sugarcoat for that." pointed out Sour. "Yeah but she might be busy figuring out her...wrist thing." "The Mega Ulorder, yeah." said Sour noticing a box on her bed. She moved it to her night stand. "Alright. So what's the deal?" "I wanna help Sunset but I guess I just kinda still feel like I failed her during the whole Anon-A-Miss fiasco." explained Vinyl. "I may not know you but it seems like you're trying to blame yourself for something you didn't really have that much control over. It's like games where you have to investigate stuff. Sometimes you try to stop something bad from happening but there's times where the game was gonna have that bad thing happen no matter how much you try to stop it." "I guess that's true." said Vinyl. "I think I got a chance to really help her but I'm not sure if I deserve it." she added going to her backpack. "This is why I'm worried about whether or not I deserve to help her." The following morning as the students were arriving one girl heard a voice. She became curious and followed it. She wound up in alley. It was then someone appeared behind her, placing a glowing hand on her head causing the girl's eyes to become dull. "Now then. I have a little job for you." the person said with a grin. The former Shadowbolts, or Shadowcolts as some of the other students had taken to calling them, arrived at school together, meeting up with Vinyl and Octavia, who at this point were also referred to by the same term since they'd seem to be getting close to them. "So what did you talk to her about?" Indigo asked Sunny. "I'm interested in helping her as another Rider." explained Sunny. "Wow." said Indigo surprised. "So what'd she say?" asked Lemon. "Just to keep track of my dreams." replied Sunny. "Weird." said Lemon. "Still...I'm really hoping I end up becoming a Rider." she said with a hop. "Wonder what my suit would be like." "We should probably focus on being careful at school." said Twilight. Indigo then put an arm around Sugarcoat. "So did you try practicing with your eye things?" "Eyecons." corrected Sugarcoat. "I've actually been trying to make contact with the Grimm Eyecon." "Contact?" asked Lemon Zest. "Yesterday Sunset mentioned that Eyecons keep the souls of the dead." explained Twilight. "So I suppose you're trying to figure out just what your abilities are." "To an extent." said Sugarcoat as they entered the school. "So what can ya do?" asked Vinyl just before a girl bumped into Sugarcoat. "I'm sorry." she said before running off. "Who was that?" asked Sugarcoat. "Mystery Mint." replied Vinyl. "She's a Rocker." "Was she....?" began Lemon Zest. "Hm?" Vinyl turned to Lemon Zest. "Was she one of the ones who turned on her?" asked Lemon Zest. "Pretty much everyone in the school turned on her." replied Vinyl. "So why is it that she only reacts to those five?" asked Indigo wondered. "She wasn't really friends with anyone else outside of the Rainbooms. After the whole thing in the Fall Former no one was willing to even give her a chance so the only people she would even talk to her were them." explained Vinyl. "She was able to endure the mistrust of others because she saw the five of them as her saviors, but this is also why she's in so much pain." explained Sunny. The others looked at her surprised. "I asked my question but I stayed with her longer. We got to talking and she told me she stared into the abyss." "The abyss?" asked Lemon. "Immediately after the Fall Formal she was rejected by everyone." said Octavia. "She also had no purpose and no reason to live. The five of them gave her a reason to live. That's why she kept trying to prove herself the rest of the school." added Sunny. "And I guess that's why it all came together the way it did." said Sugarcoat. "What do you mean?" asked Sour Sweet. "She was lost after the dance and felt that her life wasn't worth living. That why her pain created the Furia Module." explained Sunny. "I don't get it." said Lemon. "When she stared into the abyss she did so thinking about jumping into it." said Twilight with a hand on her chin. "I still don't get what you mean by abyss." said Lemon. "In other words even back then she considered ending her life and the five of them pulled her from it." explained Sunny. "And when they turned on her they threw her into it. To her what they did was nothing less than them trying to kill her whether they knew it or not. That's why she's still in pain but I think that's also why she was so willing to trust us." "What do you mean?" asked Indigo. "When they left her she felt she had nothing. She had a hole in her heart. A hole that we fit in nearly perfectly. I mean think about it." explained Sunny. "Based on how Sunset described them to me there's matches. Sugarcoat's entirely honest like that Applejack girl. Indigo's loyal to a fault, like that Rainbow girl, having even gotten in trouble to defend us on occasion. Sour Sweet has her kind moments like that Fluttershy girl, just has a few aggressive moments as well. Lemon Zest often enjoys having a good time and throwing parties much like Miss Pie. Then there's me and that girl Rarity. Both of us have an interest in fashion as well as an interest in helping others with clothes. Of course I know I can be pushy when it comes to helping them." "So she's trying to replace them with us?" asked Sour Sweet. "Kinda." replied Sunny. "From what I noticed last night I don't think she realizes she's putting us on that pedestal. That's why she was willing to trust us when she met us." "So she saw them in you?" asked Vinyl. "To an extent. I'm sure she'll realize it soon." said Sunny. It was then they heard someone who ran away crying. Fluttershy was running in tears going past her friends who followed her into a bathroom where she sat with her face in her knees. "Fluttershy, what happened?" asked Applejack. Fluttershy cried while trying to speak so they couldn't understand her. It was a few minutes later when Fluttershy finally calmed down enough to form proper words. "Alright darling. Now what's wrong?" asked Rarity. With some hiccups Fluttershy explained what she'd heard with as much clarity as she could. "Which one of them said that?" asked Rainbow. "I think it was the girl named Sunny Flare." "I'm sure needn't worry Fluttershy." said Rarity. "Rarity's right. Just like we planned, we just gotta find her and I'm sure we can explain everything to her and she'll come back to school. You'll see." said Rainbow confidently. Fluttershy looked at her friends, smiled, and nodded. Medic observed the girls with her eyes glowing lightly. "I wonder how this will play out. I'd best report to Heart-sama." she said to herself. During class each of the Rainbooms did make attempts to try to ask the Shadowcolts, the transfers, but the six refused to acknowledge the five. During lunch the Rainbooms tried to find the Shadowcolts but they had taken to eating on the roof, even preferring to bring their own lunches to avoid the cafeteria. As they ate all their phones went off at the same time. They pulled them out but before they could check them for messages something, or someone, crashed in front of them. To their surprise they saw Seikō only with the armor was pink with a small round tail and bunny ears on her helmet. "Sunset?!" they yelled out surprised. "Look out!" she yelled out just before what looked like several whips struck her causing multiple sparks as she was thrown back. They looked in shock but Sugarcoat regained her composure and reached into her backpack pulling out her Mega Ulorder. After putting it on she reached back in for her Eyecons but became shocked. "Looking for these?" asked a voice. They turned and saw what seemed to be young girl with silver hair in a crimson dress who wore a bird-like mask which had glowing green eyes who held all three of Sugarcoat's Eyecons. "Sorry but I wanted to face her alone." They heard Sunset sneer. "If you're gonna try to make yourself innocent at least try not doing so right after you ambushed me." said Seiko struggling to stand. "Aw. Don't be like that." said the girl. "Before I kill you I'll give you my name. They call me Amaya." she said before disappearing. The others looked around just before Seikō Whip was thrown near the door as her armor and suit disappeared revealing Sunset only she had a bruise on her cheek. "I guess the fun's over." she said extending her whip to attack Sunset just before Vinyl and Sugarcoat moved and pushed her aside narrowly dodging it. "Yo Sour." said Vinyl turning to her. "You were right. There's no way I can just skip out on helping Sunset." she said turning to Sunset. "I failed you once. I won't again if I can help it." she added pulling out a black Driver that had a hole with a small blade attached on the right side. She placed it on her waist causing, not only a belt to materialize but also an image of a helmet on the left side of the Driver. After she pulled out a lock that had what looked like an orange on the front with L.S.-07 printed on it. "Orange." said a voice as when the lock opened causing a circular zipper to open above her head as what looked like a giant metal orange came down from the hole. "I choose to fight along side my friend." said Vinyl placing the lock on her Driver and closing it. "Lock on!" said the voice before what sounded like a warhorn started playing. Then she sliced the lock with the blade momentarily showing the hologram of a sword with clouds around it and causing the metal orange to drop landing on her head forming blue suit with black and gold boots and gauntlets which included a sword that seemed to be part gun on the left side of her belt. Within the orange a helmet formed matching the one on her Driver. "Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!" said the voice as the orange folded downwards forming a samurai armor which upon finishing made a splash of juice as a sword which had an orange slice for a blade formed in her right hand. "DJ P0n-3 taking center stage!" declared Vinyl. "Gaim." said Sunset in shock. Vinyl looked at her. "Gaim? I kinda like that. I'm Kamen Rider Gaim." she said. "You're an amateur. Not like you could handle me." said Amaya. Gaim drew her second weapon and linked them at the base as Amaya launched her whip as she'd done to Sunset only Gaim spun her weapon cutting the whip. "That's impressive. You're not the rookie you seem to be." said Amaya with a childish smile under her mask. "I've got a great game planned so you can join if you want. I'm sure you'll want to since the prize will be these Eyecons." she said juggling them. "I'll be looking forward to your performances." she said as she disappeared leaving the others looking where the girl had been.